I wasn’t sure when I’d finally fallen asleep with my face buried in Nicky’s pillow, but the alarm on my phone woke me up like a gunshot. I sat up straight, unconsciously searching the bed with one hand before I remembered why it was empty.

Nicky is with Paulo.

Cursing, I felt the rage and the fear again, and shoved myself out of bed to get dressed and load my guns and extra clips. If I went downstairs early, there was a chance I could check on Nicky, and get her secure in my room before we left. I could let her know who I really was, what was happening today. Hell, I could leave her my phone so she could call Nathan and have them come get her out.

I don’t think I’d ever been dressed so fast in my life, and I was still tucking one of the guns into the holster when I starting unlocking my door. Out in the hall my eyes went to Paulo’s door at the far end, and I contemplated knocking — but that would cross a line. The best chance I had of getting her back, getting her safe, was to pretend I didn’t give a fuck what he’d done to her.

Anna Maria was still cooking when I walked into the empty kitchen, and she turned to apologize. “Lo siento, Señor Andre. Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Gracias,” I growled out, taking a seat where I would be able to watch the doorway. She served the food on the table about ten minutes later, and I made a plate just as Marco walked in. His eyes moved to the place on the wall where Nicky should have been, and then he gave me a confused look. Just as he opened his mouth to ask, I shook my head, and he sat down in silence.

Next were Nicolás and Samuel, laughing, with two black backpacks that they sat against the wall. “Where’s your girl this morning, cuadro?” Sam asked, and I forced myself to sound okay with all of it, as cold and empty as I should be.

“She spent the night with jefe.” I summoned a cold smile. “I think he wanted a little stress relief before the meeting today.”

They both laughed, while Marco just stared at me. Nicolás snagged a seat first, immediately dumping food onto his plate. “Well, I can understand that. José took us out to find some girls yesterday to take the edge off. Although nothing beats a girl that has to do whatever you want.”

“Got that right,” Sam laughed, nudging his brother with his elbow as he dove into his own food.

“Right,” I agreed, but my eyes wouldn’t leave the doorway. José was next, then Luis who only nodded at me before he took a seat at the other end of the table. Finally, Diego joined at about 8:30, and my panic was through the roof.

Where the fuck was Paulo? What had he done to Nicky?

I closed my eyes and looked down at my plate, praying for the first time in years. Really praying, to a God that probably didn’t want to listen to me anymore, but I wasn’t praying for me. I just wanted Nicky to be alive. That was it, I just wanted Nicky to survive. Even if she never wanted me to touch her again, or speak to her, or even see her. I just needed to know she was alive.

At ten to nine, Paulo appeared, alone, and I wanted to throw up everything I’d eaten that morning. He smiled at me, that cold shark’s smile, and took the seat across from me. “Buenos días, are we ready to leave soon?” he asked in a light tone, and I had to swallow both my rage and my breakfast back down.

“Yes, jefe,” I answered along with the others.

“Good. I have a feeling today will go well.” He beckoned Anna Maria over so she could bring him coffee, and then he put some food on his plate to quickly eat. I thought through a hundred ways to ask about Nicky, but all of them sounded demanding. Finally, as if he could read my fucking mind, Paulo looked at me, his dead eyes glittering. “Go on, ask.”

“Where is the girl?” I kept my voice soft, and his false smile widened.

“In my room. I’ll return her to you when we get back from the meeting.” He took a bite of sausage, savoring it for a second, and then he laughed quietly. “She does scream so nicely, cuadro, you were right. I will have to enjoy her again sometime.”

“Whenever you want, jefe.” I said the words on automatic because he’d implied she was alive, that he could have her again in the future. She was alive, she’d survived. I said a quiet thanks to God for giving my black soul one good thing, but the relief I felt was short-lived, because I still had no idea what he’d done to her. No idea if he had snuffed out that light, damaged her beyond repair, broken everything in her that I loved.

Fuck. Loved?

That was too complicated a word to process right now, when every man in the room was carrying multiple weapons and prepared to kill. The only comfort I had was that Nathan and the assault team would have every one of these motherfuckers in handcuffs or a body bag by noon.

And I would be damn sure they got Nicky out of here.

* * *

An hour later, we were pulling up in two separate SUVs at the meeting. It was near the harbor, an actual warehouse, and there was someone at the gate to open it for us. Early Saturday morning the place was a ghost town, perfect for slaughter if that was what the Columbians had planned for Paulo and the rest of us.

I had to focus, had to get my head on straight and be sure I’d told Nathan the right warehouse number. Fortunately, it seemed Luis hadn’t lied to us. It was the right warehouse, and there were two other SUVs outside of it, and one man at the door.

Paulo looked over at me and smiled. “Do you have my back, cuadro?”

I kept myself calm, trying to look a little confused. “Claro. Why ask, jefe?”

“Want to make sure last night didn’t make you feel any different.”

“No different at all,” I said without a bit of a lie.

“Bueno. Let us go make some money.”

We walked inside, and Paulo nodded to Sam and Nicolás who separated in different directions to walk the perimeter. When the man with us tried to speak up, Paulo cut him off. “If you think I will not have my men check the building, you are wrong. Now, take us in.”

The Columbian looked between all of us, completely outnumbered, and finally led us on a winding path into the center of the warehouse. Past giant boxes, plastic wrapped pallets, and huge containers, until we stepped into a cleared area where a group of armed soldiers stood around two men wearing button-down shirts and an older woman in a black skirt suit.

“Ah, Paulo García, it is good to finally meet in person.” The woman walked forward alone, extending her hand as Paulo did the same to shake.

“Señora Márquez, I am glad we were able to arrange this.” He sounded as smooth and calm as he always did, but Jose, Luis, and I still spread out behind him.

“Yes, and here are my sons. Daniel and Tomás.” She leaned back to wave them forward, and they did, taking up flank on either side of their mother. One looked to be almost thirty, the other a little younger.

“Bueno. It is good to meet all of you, but let us discuss what we came for. You know I have had a business relationship with the Santiago family for many years… I understand that your family had a disagreement with them and it was handled.”

“It was handled, and while that was messy, we want this transition to be simple. And I wanted to meet you myself to understand what kind of man you are, beyond what I have been told.” Señora Márquez had a smile as cold and practiced as Paulo, and it made me tense even as I forced myself to forget about Nicky, forget about what the bastard had done to her.

Paulo smiled, opening his arms wide. “I am an open book, señora. Ask me what you want, and then we will come down to the details of this new arrangement.”

The fake polite shit was getting old, and I didn’t have the patience to listen as they talked. Two of her men brought over boxes for them to sit on, one of the men removing his jacket so she could sit down on the fabric instead. His guns were not a surprise, but it still made me glance to José to make sure we both had access to ours.

Samuel and Nicolás joined us again a few minutes later, and walked to Luis. “All clear,” Sam said, loud enough for the others to hear, but the smile on his face told me the opposite. They’d set up explosives around the building, and I had to hope that Nathan’s team would take them out before they could set them off.

And where the fuck was Nathan anyway?

They had been talking for at least ten minutes about the area of Columbia they each grew up in. She talked about her sons, the death of their father, which seemed to be rather recent, and more drivel about how beautiful it was and how Paulo would like to visit the facilities to see them in person. Señora Márquez agreed easily, and then they finally got down to business. Reviewing the numbers from the previous arrangement, bargaining in polite tones, but no one in the damn warehouse believed it.

To take over another operation in Columbia the Márquez family had to be cold and vicious.

Shit. As I tuned back into their conversation, I could tell that they were already close to a new agreement. What would happen if they wanted to leave before Nathan’s team was in position? I was tempted to go for my phone in my pocket, to see if he’d sent me a coded message of some kind, but then I heard the door bang open, and I reacted with everyone else. Gun out, I moved with José to grab Paulo. The woman’s sons immediately drew weapons, pointing them at us, and I shielded Paulo just in case this shit went sideways and I was still in.

I heard boots, men shouting, and Luis yelled across the room, “Is this you?”

“NO!” One of the Márquez men shouted back, and I cursed.

“We have to get Paulo out,” I told José, playing my part to the last, and Samuel walked up at the same time.

“Do I blow them?” he asked.

“No! We could block ourselves in. Fuck!” José was panicking, looking around, and then the first shots went off and the whole room exploded.

“Kill them and get us out of here,” Paulo commanded, and I was tempted to put a bullet in him myself. Somewhere that would make him fucking suffer.

Shouts of “Police!” and “Drop your weapons!” rang out as the assault team poured into the narrow space, wearing tactical gear as the Márquez team tried to flee the other way, firing shots back at the cops. I couldn’t see faces through their masks, but I hoped Nathan—

POP. POP.

Pain exploded in my chest and I stumbled and then hit the ground, hearing José and Paulo shouting as others yelled. Someone cried out in pain, and gunfire rang out across the warehouse, but none of it mattered because I was hit. I couldn’t breathe, and I looked down at my chest to see it wet. Swiping my hand over it, I saw blood and I knew I had to be in shock. It had to be shock, because as I pushed at the wounds on my chest to stop the bleeding, they didn’t hurt as much as they should.

A masked face hovered over me and I tried to grab on to them, to explain who I was, why I was here, but then the man pulled the mask up and I saw Nathan. “Shot. They fucking shot me.” I spoke fast, trying to grab onto him as he looked around the room, and then leaned over me again. “Nicky, get Nicky. She’s in Paulo’s room.”

“It’s okay, Andre. You did it.” He was looking around, another member of the assault team guarding his back, and then I felt a sharp pain in my neck. The world dipped, swam, and I tried to grab onto him again.

“Nicky.” My tongue wasn’t working right, the lights funny as they dimmed, and then I realized she was alone in the house. With Diego. No, no. “Nicky, get…”

I tried to focus, tried to explain, but Nathan wasn’t even looking at me, he was looking away and I cursed him just before the dark swallowed me whole.