Page 42 of Cartel Viper (The Cartel Brotherhood #2)

Chapter Twenty-One

Maddy

“You can run, but you can’t hide, Madeline.”

I say nothing, instead, scrambling to get clothes on.

“Bad day? It’s unfortunate Luciana’s old love nest didn’t survive the drones I sent.”

Did he blow up the house once we left? We heard no explosions. He’s probably just taunting me.

“I won’t stop until you come home, Madeline. I’ll punish you, then we’ll move on. But if you stay with that piece of shit, I’ll kill him in front of you. You’re not the only one who’s been busy today. Your niece and nephew are adorable.”

My phone vibrates again as a text comes through. I dread opening it, but I have to know. There’s a photo of Laura walking with her twins, each holding one of her hands. They’re headed into the grocery store. I can see the guards with them, but it still rattles me.

Once I’m decent, I rush down the hallway.

I mute the call as I dash past Elle, my finger to my lips as I shake my head because she greeted me.

I know where Enrique’s office is, so I knock once before opening the door.

The men rise as I thrust out my hand, the phone held screen up on my palm.

Drew’s still talking as Javi comes to stand beside me.

“Konstantin begged for the cinnamon applesauce Auntie Christina lets him have. Laura’s too much of a bitch and makes her kids have the unsweetened shit.”

Christina only lets them have the unsweetened cinnamon, but neither of the twins is old enough to read and know that. Why that’s the detail caught in my mind is beyond me. Maybe it distracts me from the terror that this psychopath knows something so specific.

I unmute the phone.

“You might have gotten a photo of them, but you won’t get any closer than that. I know the men guarding Laura and the twins. One of them is Pasha.”

He’s Laura’s cousin-in-law. He’s as ruthless as Maks and just as protective.

He won’t let anyone get close to Laura, Mila, or Konstantin.

His wife, Sumiko, is pregnant. As a soon-to-be father now, he’s even more over the top than he was before.

All the couples now have kids or are about to, and Laura and Christina both have two.

The men will go berserk when they find out someone took pictures of Laura and the twins.

“You may as well put that black suit on now because your wake’ll be tonight once I show Maks this photo.”

“You won’t tell Maks a damn thing because then he’ll demand you go to him. You won’t leave your hiding place to risk me getting you. You know it’ll cause a fight between the Kutsenkos and Diazes, and you don’t want your little fuck boy getting his pretty face fucked up.”

I watch Javi, not knowing what to say. Joaquin walks over and lifts the phone from my hand. He plugs it into his computer but gestures for me to keep going.

“Or both families will go after you. They’ve worked together in the past.”

“Ha. The Diazes might have helped the Kutsenkos when Misha needed them, but it doesn’t go both ways. They’ll destroy the Diazes, and you know it.”

Enrique rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

I didn’t see Pablo earlier, but he’s here now too.

He makes an obscene hand gesture—like he’s jerking off—until he realizes Enrique saw him do that in front of me.

He drops his hand and grimaces. Alejandro shifts, catching my attention.

He looks the most like Enrique, so when he rolls his eyes and shakes his head too, it’s like a delayed replay of his uncle.

“Drew, you might have been a pain in the ass today, but I’m still with the Diazes, and you’re still shit out of luck. I’m not going near you ever again.”

“Is that a challenge, Madeline? I tracked you down twice. I?—”

“And it took you more than a month to do that. I bet the only reason you figured out where I was is because you saw a photo of me or something while I attended Enrique’s wedding reception.”

It’s Enrique’s turn to grimace. I shrug.

It was ultimately my choice to go, and I knew what I risked.

I shift my focus when Joaquin spins his laptop around, and I see a digital map.

There’s a pulsing circle with a red dot in the center.

I dart my gaze to Javi, whose expression tells me I can end the call. They know what they need.

“Madeline, do you want all the Diazes’ deaths on your conscience. You couldn’t survive that guilt.”

“Neither your dick nor your balls are big enough to do shit personally. That’s why you sent Jacob, and he died for it.

It’s why you had to send machines to do what your men can’t.

I left you, and I’m never going back. Come near me, and I’ll kill you myself.

You know I can and will kill. You wouldn’t be the first today. ”

I hang up as I stare at the device that’s back in my hand again.

I can’t believe I spoke so crudely in front of Enrique, but I think the circumstances can excuse my lack of manners.

Anger pulses through me now that the initial shock and fear have eased.

The urge to hurl my phone across the office tempts me, but I restrain my temper.

It won’t get me anywhere, and I refuse to have a meltdown in front of men who’ve had stoicism drilled into them since the cradle.

“Maddy?”

I look up at Javi who appears uncertain what to do. I can tell he senses my changing moods, and he wants to help but doesn’t know how.

“We have to call Maks, don’t we?”

“Absolutely.”

A resolute answer, but he hardly sounds eager. We shift our gazes to Enrique who hardly looks thrilled, considering he told me this was private family business. I’ll have to admit more than I want.

“Should we call from my phone or yours?”

“Javier’s.” Enrique’s not deferring to his nephew, but it’ll signal to Maks that Javi decides how best to protect me.

“Do you want me to step out for this?”

“No. You can stay. Maks and his family are all fluent Spanish speakers. If we need to discuss something, we’ll switch to that.”

Javi’s attention moves to his brothers, and he jerks his head.

They vacate the loveseat they shared—one that looked ready to collapse under their massive frames but is still standing—so Javi and I can sit.

When our gazes meet, I know we both wish I could sit on his lap.

That would be way too much in front of everyone else.

We settle for his arm around my shoulders as he pulls out his phone. He dials and puts the call on speaker.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Maks?”

“Madeline?!”

“I’m okay, but I need to talk to you. I’m at Enrique’s with Javi and his family.”

“What are you doing there? You shouldn’t be near them.”

“Maks, is Laura around too?”

There’s a pause. “Yeah. Hold on.”

We hear Maks moving, then my sister’s on the line.

“Madeline, why are you with them ?”

“Laura, there’s—I—” I inhale a fortifying breath.

“I left Drew a month ago because things have been—I wasn’t safe there.

I am now. I’m with Javi, and I don’t want to be anywhere else.

Drew found me, and he’s threatening me again.

He sent me a photo of you and the twins going into the grocery store today. ”

“Madeline—” My sister’s speechless.

“Laura, I’m okay.”

“Take me off speaker right this minute and go somewhere private. I’m speaking to you alone. Now, Madeline.”

I glance up at Javi and nod. I stand and look around the room. None of the men appear surprised. They all know Laura. They know she has an iron will no one can bend. But they also know she wants to ask me things only I’d share with her or Javi. Shit that’s private.

I step out of the office and look around. I see Elle and her dog in the living room. He’s just like Laura’s Mastiff but a different color. I can’t take this call in front of her. I head up the stairs.

“Madeline?”

“Just a moment. I was in Enrique’s office with the guys. I’m headed to Javi’s room.”

“Why do you keep calling him Javi? And Enrique has enough guest rooms in that mansion that you don’t need to go anywhere but to the one we used to share.”

We spent several Christmases here when we were kids.

When we were really little, we’d fall asleep before the evening was done.

She and I would climb into a bed together and whisper about the gifts we got or the ones we thought we’d get the next day.

I didn’t think about that room until just now. I still go to Javi’s.

“You’re going to lose all your shit, but you have to let me tell you everything while I have the courage to say it.”

“You better hurry because a comment like that doesn’t calm me down.”

“I know. I don’t know which end of the story to start with, and it might jump around as I think of things.”

“I can follow. Get on with it.”

She doesn’t snap at me. I hear dread instead, but I know she’s already formulating a plan to rescue me. She just needs to know enough details to figure out how. I need to stop her.

“When we were in high school, Javi and I wound up with our dates in the same park. The guy I was with didn’t like it when I said no.

Javi heard me scream and got me out of the car.

He took care of the guy. After that, he insisted on being my shadow for nearly a year.

I had a total crush on him throughout high school, so I accepted and felt safer for it. ”

“You did a shitty job keeping that secret, Mads. I knew about your crush.”

“Did you know Javi was watching out for me?”

“No, but I suspected it. I thought you might have been hooking up.”

“You never said anything.”

“Back then, I trusted that he might have been an asshole to everyone but never to you.”

“You need to trust that’s still the case.

He and I ran into each other a while ago.

I trust him even more now than I did back then.

He found out what’s been going on with Drew.

I ran away from Albany a month ago. Things haven’t been good with Drew since I moved in with him.

Do you know who he is? Has Maks told you? ”