BEAST
Not all were there. Of the faces Leonardo had told Allison about, the ones he’d thought and hoped he’d never see again, only a few were in the apartment with the others Martinez would be briefing. Which meant there were still some up there—with Allison.
Pacing as they all waited for Martinez to get there, Leonardo debated whether he should just head back and have the guys fill him in on what he missed later. His phone ringing made him flinch. Seeing Allison’s name on his screen already had him heading to the door.
“Where you going?” Orlando asked, but Leonardo just held up a hand as he brought the phone to his ear.
“What’s wrong?”
It was muffled, and for a moment, Leonardo actually felt relieved and slowed. He could hear footsteps echoing loudly. It calmed the alarm that Allison would only call if something were wrong. This sounded like she’d dialed him accidently. Then he heard it.
“What’s the hurry? I just wanna a moment with you.”
Leonardo froze in place at the sound of the man’s voice. It took a second, but he recognized that unmistakable smug accent of that fucking douche he thought he’d never see again. Hearing Allison’s response only made the heat rip through Leonardo’s body even faster.
“My hurry is my boyfriend is waiting for me up there.”
“No, he’s not.”
The line clicked, and Leonardo nearly roared. Martinez and his entourage walked in the door just as Leonardo rushed to it. “You leaving?”
“Yeah, I gotta go.”
There was no time for explanations. He tore by him headed to the elevator as he dialed Allison back. After the second ring, the call was sent to voicemail, which only alarmed him further. He hit the up button for the elevator, looking up to see what floor the elevators were on, cursing under his breath. All three were near the bottom floors. Martinez’s luxury apartment was just three floors down from the roof. Fuck it. He’d take the stairs. Nine and Orlando walked out into the hallway.
“What’s going on?” Orlando asked as Leonardo rushed to the stairwell door.
“Allison,” he said as he reached the door. “That piece of shit DeMoss is with her.”
“Who?”
“The fucker who ran the Coyotaje rings down in Yuma.” Leonardo pushed the door to the stairwell open. “Flip nearly killed his ass when he caught him messing with one of the little girls he was supposed to be smuggling.”
Leonardo started up the stairs, not sure who he was more pissed at: that fucker for approaching her at all or himself for getting Allison involved in his shit to begin with. The blinding rage only intensified with every step he took.
He cleared the first floor up easily then turned the corner to the next, nearly colliding with Drew. She was on her phone—alone—which only confirmed that wherever Allison was with that prick she was alone too.
“Where’s Allison?”
Drew pointed up. “The restroom,” she mouthed then covered her phone with her hand. “My daughter’s in urgent care,” she explained. “I had to take the call in here so I could hear better.”
Leonardo tore up the rest of the stairs, skidding when he heard Drew clarify that Allison was on the floor before the roof. Not on the roof.
Opening the door to the last floor before the roof, he rushed into the empty hallway. There was no time for etiquette. He rushed right into the ladies’ room. “Allison!” he called out leaning over to see under the stalls.
He didn’t see any feet, but he knew better, so he kicked them open, ready to kill if anyone was holding her in there. When it was clear she wasn’t in any, he rushed out into the hallway again. Nine was just walking out of the stairwell behind Orlando. There was another door across the hall from that stairwell with a window just like it. Leonardo hurried toward it, looking in the window. Another stairwell.
The movement on the upper part of that stairwell caught his eye, and in the next instant, everything but a loud buzzing noise in his ears went silent. He didn’t remember smashing the door open or tearing up the stairs to pull the fucking animal off her. He was so blinded by the rage he didn’t even stop to check if Allison was okay. All he knew was he’d forever have the image of that fucking bastard holding her neck with one hand and his other hand between her legs. Worst of all, the image of her horrified crying face.
DeMoss was on the floor, and Leonardo had no recollection of how he got there. But the asshole’s face was already a bloody mess, so Leonardo could only assume he pummeled him the moment he was close enough.
“Look at me, you piece of shit.” He lifted the guy by the shirt. “I’m the guy who’s gonna end your fucking life.”
Leonardo spit in his face. Then just like when he’d done this to his own dad, he knew the moment he started bashing DeMoss’s face he wouldn’t stop until the guy stopped breathing. It didn’t take long. What took longer was convincing Leonardo that he was dead.
The moments after they were finally able to pull him off DeMoss’s lifeless body were a blur. Somehow Allison got whisked away; though Orlando had to shake Leo to get him to calm the fuck down and listen to what he was saying.
“She’s fine, damn it! Nine’s with her now. He took her to Drew and will make sure they get home okay.”
He didn’t even remember taking his shirt off or who took it off him, but he assumed it was Orlando since he was now wearing Orlando’s shirt to cover his bloodied wife beater. He and Orlando were rushing down the stairwell with Orlando reminding him every few minutes under his breath, “Keep your fucking head down. Do not look up. There’s cameras everywhere.”
When they’d gone down a few flights, Orlando finally walked out into the hallway as Leonardo followed, his adrenaline still pumping through him like water through a fire hose. Next thing Leonardo knew they were in a restroom with Orlando ordering him to wash his hands.
His friend moved quickly, drenching paper towels and roughly cleaning off the splattered blood all over Leonardo’s face. As soon as Orlando deemed the cleanup good enough, they grabbed the elevator the rest of the way down.
The moment they were in the elevator, Leonardo realized it all happened so fast it suddenly dawned on him that he didn’t even know for sure. “Did he rape her?”
Orlando stared at him with a blank expression. “Dude, you killed the guy. What does it—?”
Leonardo grabbed him by the shirt. “Did he fucking rape her?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. But he sure as fuck was going to.”
Leonardo let go of Orlando and brought his hands to his face instead. “Fuck!”
An endless trail of expletives followed as he banged the walls of the elevator. Leonardo could kick his own ass for having brought her into this life. He’d known it was dangerous. He’d known he’d ruin anything he touched. His phone rang just as they exited the elevator.
“Are you okay?” was the first thing he said after hitting the answer button.
“I’m fine. How are you?” Allison may have sounded well enough, but there was a slight trembling in her words.
“Baby, I’m so sorry.” Feeling his own words tremble and then the huge boulder in his throat nearly suffocating him, he kept walking farther into a corner of the parking lot instead of toward Orlando’s truck. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered even as Allison insisted it wasn’t his fault.
Of course she would. She had no idea who that bastard was or why he’d target her. Swatting the tears in anger, he took a deep breath.
“. . . didn’t do anything but touch me.”
Even hearing the tail end of what she was saying so frantically made him want to kill the guy all over again. When he was finally able to breathe a little calmer, he took one big deep breath. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, baby, but whatever does, just remember I love you.”
“What do you mean?” She sounded even more frantic now. “You were defending me, Leonardo, stopping a potential rape. You did what you had to. Just turn yourself in and tell them that. I’ll testify on your behalf. But don’t run.”
There were sirens in the distance followed by more and more. “Dude, we gotta go,” Orlando called out from inside his truck already. “We need to get you out of here.”
Leonardo thought of what Allison had just said, but he knew he couldn’t chance it. “I gotta go, babe. I’ll get in touch when I can. I love you.”
He hung up before she could say anything more, before she could try to convince him to turn himself in. Maybe someone with a clean past would get off. Not Leonardo. Not a former cartel member.
He got in the truck. “Where should we head to?” Orlando asked. “I gotta hide you out somewhere then wait for Nine to call in case he needs a ride home from the hospital.”
“Hospital?” Leonardo turned to him in a panic. “But Allison said—”
“Not Allison,” Orlando clarified. “Drew’s kid, remember? Since Allison’s feeling okay and Drew was worried, they decided to go straight to the hospital first. Nine said he’ll let me know if it’s gonna be long or if Allison can just drop Drew off and bring him home. But I can’t take you home. That’s the first place they’ll come looking as soon as they get wind it was you who killed that guy.”
Leonardo let his head fall back on the seat. He was so fucked now. On the run again, he had two choices. He could get on his bike and head back to where he said he never return. It’d be assurance of two things. He’d never be caught by the cops, and he’d never see Allison again, so he wouldn’t have to worry about dragging her into his shit again.
His second choice would be calling his probation officer and explaining what happened. Lawyer up and pray for a miracle. If he beat the charges, he’d still have a chance to stay in Allison’s life. Be happy, but the risk of his past possibly catching up to him—yet again—and putting her in danger would still be there.
“Just get me to my bike. I know what I gotta do.”