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Chapter 24
ALEXEI
“This feels familiar,” Demitri mutters as we sit in the safe house in Columbia again.
I held out a week before I followed Isabella, and now I’m back to square one, watching her.
I’m staring at the tracker that shows Isabella at her own safe house. Suddenly the marker begins to move, and I dart to my feet. “She’s on the move.”
Demitri gets up and follows me out of the house. He’s been glued to my side since I lost my shit, watching me like a damn hawk.
“I can go by myself,” I mention even though I know it’s pointless.
Demitri shakes his head and opens the passenger door. Once we’re inside the vehicle, he says, “Not with Sonia’s people crawling all over the place.”
Even though Sonia’s in hiding, business is continuing as always. She’s put a man named Oscar in charge. He’s the usual scum of the earth.
“You can’t throw a stone without hitting a cockroach around here,” I mutter.
I start the engine and then steer the SUV toward the vacated house where Isabella seems to be heading.
I park down the road from the vacated house where Isabella keeps her motorcycle so she won’t see us. We only have to wait a couple of minutes before a van pulls into the driveaway.
“That’s the same van we’ve seen at her safe house,” Demitri mentions.
Then both our heads tilt to the side as we watch two people get out of the vehicle. I grab the binoculars and bringing them to my eyes, I get a better look at the other person.
“Woman. Either late teens or early twenties,” I murmur. “Also Latino.”
Just then, a car turns up the street and dims its lights. “Fuck.”
Demitri and I move, rushing out of the SUV, and then I’m running straight for the car as I yank my gun from behind me. I raise my arms, and stopping in the middle of the road, I take aim. As soon as the fuckers are close enough, I fire a shot that shatters the windscreen.
Men spill from the vehicle, scattering like roaches. My barrel tracks the driver, and then I pull the trigger, dropping him to the pavement.
Demitri guns two down.
“Is that all of them?” I ask.
“Yes, but yours is still moving.”
“Just like a fucking cockroach. Chop off the head, and the fuckers still keep going,” I mutter as I stalk to where the man is trying to drag himself into the shadows. Coming up to him, I fire two more shots. “Die already.”
When I turn around, it’s to see Isabella walking into the road, her gun drawn and ready at her side. Seeing her is a sucker punch to my heart as I tuck my weapon into its place behind my back.
“What are you doing here?” she calls out.
“Making sure you’re safe,” I answer.
“You tracked me?”
I begin to walk toward her and only stop once I can see her clearly and am close enough to touch her. It doesn’t escape my attention that I don’t have a gun pointed at my chest.
Then a breeze picks up, and her scent washes over me, making my heart constrict.