Chapter Four
Madison
I don’t sleep. Every time I’m almost out, Cori whimpers. It’s been roughly eight hours according to my internal clock since I was dumped into this room with her. She’s running a slight temperature and she threw up bile earlier. We’ve had no food or water and I had to bring Cori tap water from my hands and cajole her until she drank it. I’m lying on the scratchy mattress without benefit of a sheet. I grimace at the ceiling, which I can see clearly because the light above us never turns off. The damn switch by the door doesn’t work. If my only complaint was a scratchy mattress to sleep on and a bright light, I’d be in good shape.
Another groan from Cori makes me roll over and face her. From the sound of her slow, shallow breathing, she’s asleep and I don’t plan to wake her. I stand up and walk to the metal cabinet, ignoring the blood on top again. I’ve already searched it but can’t stop myself from doing it again. Nothing is inside but a metal shelf. I would slam the damn door shut in frustration if the sound wouldn’t wake Cori. I have nothing to defend us with in the entire damn room. I rest my ass on the bed and look around for the millionth time. There must be something. After a frustrated huff, I lie back on the mattress.
Moon fills my thoughts. I know he’s crazy with worry right now. I can’t bear to think about Cori’s finger being delivered to our house and what Moon must have thought when it arrived. Fernandez would want Moon thinking the finger was mine until he opened the box and I’m sure his plan worked. Not that Cori’s finger is better than mine. I actually wish it were mine. Cori doesn’t deserve this. She only lives on the outskirts of our dangerous life. She doesn’t warrant maiming or death because of Moon’s organization.
The door jiggles as a key is placed into the lock. It slides open and Fernandez enters. The younger man who injected me with drugs in the car is behind him with his hand on a gun at his waist. He’s stretching his neck as far forward as possible and staring at my body. Give me a chance and I’ll have that gun. Just one chance. If it means I spread my legs open so he has a better view, I’ll do it.
Fernandez carries a tray and rests it on the end of my mattress. It looks and smells like soup, which makes my stomach rumble.
“Be sure she eats too.” He nods toward Cori who I can tell is awake now from her near silent breathing, but she doesn’t open her eyes. “You’ll both need your strength.”
He walks out and the door shuts with finality even though we know he’s coming back. “The slime is gone,” I tell Cori.
Her eyes open, the whites replaced by redness. Her lips quiver as she tries to talk without success. I carry the tray closer and lift one of the bowls. It’s chicken noodle soup, which might help her stomach. I rest on the side of her bed and wait for her to sit up higher. She moans and her eyes close for a moment when she forgets she’s injured as she tries to use her hand to push herself up.
“He’s going to kill us both,” she finally manages to say.
I lift the spoon with soup dripping back into the bowl and move both the spoon and bowl closer to her chin. She gives me a look and I know what she’s going to say before she says it. “If you hold the bowl with one hand, you can’t eat with the other, so I’m doing this. Shut up about it and eat.” I place the first spoonful to her lips and she sips and then swallows some noodles with a slurp. “Fernandez will draw this out as long as he can but never forget Moon is coming for us.”
Cori’s eyes go to her hand. We both know how Fernandez will draw this out.
I take her good hand with my free one. “Don’t think that. We fight and we stay alive no matter what. If all else fails, we’ll die with Fernandez’s blood beneath our fingernails.” I squeeze her hand with reassurance I don’t feel. “Moon will find us, I promise.”
I receive just the hint of a smile from Cori and it’s enough to keep me going. She eats about half the soup, which impresses me. After shaking her head when she can’t take another bite, I place the spoon back in the bowl and return to my mattress to eat mine. Cori’s soft snores a short time later let me know she’s sleeping again. I finish both bowls and lay back into the bed, closing my eyes and thinking about Moon.
Catch Xavier Moon. My husband. My heart.
I’ve done everything in my power not to think about him but it’s like he’s a layer of my skin that can never be removed. His dark blue eyes haunt me every time I close mine. I may have fallen in love with his eyes first. They see deep into my soul. The life he leads is not one I thought I could ever embrace. He’s a very good man in a very bad way due to circumstances. Those circumstances mean nothing to the police. They have their line in the sand and Moon has his. The police don’t care that Moon keeps drugs out of young hands because Moon runs the drugs. I’m not stupid, but I know for a fact love is blind because I love Moon with every fiber of my being. What I thought bad is now in a gray area in my brain. I also have hope that someday, the illegal activities will be at an end. Two years ago, Moon’s organization went into the recently legalized medical marijuana business with Dax and his club.
Drugs outside of medical marijuana are something Moon and I don’t discuss. It’s hard for me to balance my cop perspective of zero tolerance with the life I live now. Moon respects my need to stay in the dark. On the good side, I’m aware of his strict rules regarding drugs and children. He’s not a man you want to cross and anyone he discovers breaking his rules pays the price. How they pay is something else we don’t discuss. Keeping my head in the sand has worked for us until these past few months. I’ve been swinging back and forth between wanting to be more involved in Moon’s organization and another need… get out while I can. So damn stupid because I would never leave him. My conscience just needs work.
I say a silent prayer: “Get me and Cori out of this and I’ll get my shit together and be the woman Moon needs at his side.” My mind drifts and I exhale a ragged breath and picture Moon. He’s more at home in a suit than a comfortable pair of jeans. The way he fills out a suit is something women drool over. He’s mine, though, and I’m the one who peels off the layers and sees the beautiful body beneath. There are so many things I love about him, but one that sticks out is his strength of will. His parents were killed by a Mexican drug cartel and Moon took revenge by tracking them down and killing them all with the help of his best friend, Alex. Neither man would live the life they have now if the cartels had left their families alone. Alex’s father was killed after he helped Moon and Alex track down the killers in Mexico. If anyone can get us out of this mess, it’s my husband with his scary-as-fuck best friend.
The police have no idea what Moon does to keep us safe. As the head of Arizona’s crime syndicate, he keeps the cartels out of the United States with good men willing to do very bad things. I thought for a while that Moon might be willing to give up what he does for me, but now, I know it will never happen. It’s been eating at me and I fear a death for us like the one Austin’s former boss and wife suffered. There was nothing pretty about how Fernandez tortured them.
Austin is another matter entirely. I never really trusted him because something is missing behind his eyes. Now he has Melina and I’ve caught glimpses of the missing part, which could be a touch of humanity he didn’t have before. Or maybe it’s been there and he just hid it until Melina came into his life. Only time will tell.
Right now, Moon is looking for me. I know he has called in every connection he has and they’re all hunting. A tear slides from the corner of my eye and rolls down my cheek. I know he’s worried. I also know Alex is looking for someone to kill while Celina tries to hold him back. She’s level-headed and will keep the monster inside Alex in check until it needs to come out.
Dax will be there too. I’ll be angry if he pulls Sofia into this. The thought stops more tears from falling. Celina, Sofia, and Melina will be furious if they’re cut out. I’d feel the same way. I open my eyes and glance at Cori. We need all the help we can get.
“I’m waiting, Moon. Come get me,” I whisper into the silence.