“You did what?” I screeched, looking at Camden wildly. “Why the fuck did you leave him, he was shot!?”

“I had to come get you,” Camden said angrily. “We didn’t know that you were going to be having dinner at his house. If we’d known that, I would have never let you leave today.”

“So where the fuck is Gus, Javier?” I asked, my eyes slicing into him.

He rubbed nervously at the dried blood that was smeared all over his forehead. “He’s gone.”

“Dead?!”

He smoothed his hair behind his ears. “No. They have him.”

“Who the fuck is they?”

He looked at me like I was an idiot. “Who do you think? Los Zetas.”

“How the hell did they get him?” I looked between the both of them and slammed my hands down on the dashboard. “The fuck!” I screamed.

Javier sighed and looked away. I was so close to clocking him upside the head and reopening a few wounds, I didn’t give a shit if he came and got me and Camden out of there. I knew him rescuing us couldn’t have been because he had a change of heart. He licked his lips and gave me an apologetic glance. “After Camden left, I waited until I could hear the ambulance. I left Gus there and went into the building. I knew the cops would show up soon after, Zetas cops, once the medics discovered Peter and Raul’s bodies and that I’d be as good as dead. I went upstairs to hide. I watched the ambulance come. He was alive. They put an oxygen mask on him. They took him away. They got to the end of the street. Then a black car came out of nowhere, stopped the ambulance. Shot the driver. Opened up the back. Took Gus out, shot everyone else. They put Gus in the car. And then they drove off.”

My mouth was open. It took effort to close it. “And that was Travis? He was at the party …”

“I guess Raul orchestrated this. We won’t know because I shot him. And he, by the way, is the one who shot Gus, not me.” Javier cast a furtive glance over at Camden and continued, “I’m guessing they mean to take you, Ellie.”

Camden cleared his throat. “They would have taken Ellie at the party. I was watching Travis’s face, he was truly shocked when he found out about Ellie and her mother.”

“He was probably planning on taking Ellie later, for vengeance, without knowing who Ellie really was. Now, he probably has Gus. And this whole fucking thing is far from over. Now, Travis knows everything.” He scratched at his chin thoughtfully, “Your parents won’t be around for much longer either.”

That was enough. I took my elbow and smashed Javier right in his already broken nose. Then I crawled over Camden and jumped from the Jeep, running down the road until I tripped over a pothole and went flying to the ground.

Camden was soon at my side, helping me back up. I waved him away, just wanted to lie there, let the rain wash me away.

“Ellie, come on,” he said softly, bringing me up to me feet. My dress was all dirty from the mud, as dirty as I felt.

I blinked back the tears and stared up at him, the side of his face illuminated by the headlights. “What do we do now?”

He cocked his head at me and smiled, just a bit. “We do what we’ve always done. The right thing. We go get him back.”

I shook my head. I was so damn afraid. “I can’t do this again. Javier’s right, Travis knows me now. Everything has been blown wide open … my parents … it’s what that asshole wanted.” I glared at the Jeep but was only blinded.

“That asshole isn’t going to get what he wants much longer, Ellie. We don’t need him. You and I, we will get Gus back.”

“You wouldn’t last a day.” Javier was suddenly behind us. My God he could be sneaky.

“Oh fuck off,” Camden said, “you should be grateful your brains aren’t spilled all over the wall.”

“You didn’t have the guts,” he answered, stepping right up to him. As much as this spelled disaster, as sticky as this all was, Javier kind of had a point. We wouldn’t get that far. Camden got to me with the help of Gus and his contacts. Together, we had nothing.

“You still want your sisters safe, don’t you?” I asked Javier.

He nodded, and I saw the first flash of pain come across his brow. “I have to get to Mexico City. That’s where Violetta is. She’s the closest to him now, the easiest one for him to go after. I have people here who can help me, who will help me. I just don’t know if it’s enough. Now that Travis knows I am here …”

He didn’t have to finish the sentence. We all knew far too well what he would do.

“Okay,” I said, looking between them, “Javier we’ll help protect your sister if you help us get Gus back. And my parents, if we can.”

“How the fuck can you protect my sister?” he asked angrily.

“Javier,” I said. “Who else do you have right now? Who else is here with you? Peter? Raul? You can’t do this alone just as we can’t.”

“I have my people.”

“Those same people turned on you. What makes you think they’ll stay loyal now?”

“Raul, I knew …”

“And yet look what happened. Who knows who else Travis has won over? At least you know where you stand with us.”

I don’t know why I was pressing so hard for Javier’s help, especially when he’d just threatened to deliver Camden’s head at my doorstep, but there it was.

He shook his head back and forth but walked back to the car. “I don’t like this.”

“None of us like this!” I yelled at him. I looked up at Camden, pleading a bit with my eyes. “I don’t think we have much of a choice.”

His eyes cut into Javier as he got back into the Jeep. “You always have a choice, Ellie. Always. This will have to be ours.” We turned and headed back toward the Jeep. Camden leaned into me and whispered, “At the first legitimate excuse, Javier is gone. I’ll kill him if I have to.”

I would have chalked that up to Camden being overprotective. But I recognized the dark gleam in his eyes, the absence of guilt, and I realized he would.

Camden had changed. We all had changed. The past was behind us. And I had no idea what our future was.