Page 24

CHAPTER 24

Camila

I t was early in the morning when Kilo left, so I’d gone home and had breakfast with my family. Several hours later there was a knock on the door. I opened it with a smile, expecting it to be Kilo since it was about one-thirty in the afternoon. Frowning, I looked between Dustin and Jeremy as they stood on my porch. “Hi.”

“Can we come in?” Dustin asked.

The slight urgency in his tone made the hair on my nape rise. “Of course,” I shut the door and locked it behind them. The only times in the past that both U.S. Marshals had shown up at our door together had been when Kruzman found us. I swallowed hard, meeting Dustin’s gaze. “Does he know where we are?”

“We don’t know yet, Camila,” he said, being honest. He was always honest with me.

“What happened?” Mama asked, as we went into the dining room. She got up and started making coffee for them.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “It might be nothing.”

“What might be nothing?” I insisted.

The knock on the door made me jump in the chair I’d sat on. Everyone fell silent and looked over at the door.

“I’ve got it,” Dustin said, getting up and going over there.

“The fuck are you doing here?”

I breathed out a sigh of relief when I heard Kilo’s voice. Getting up, I went over and practically threw myself into his arms. They wrapped around me and I didn’t need to look to know he was scowling at Dustin.

“Who’s that?” Kilo demanded.

“That’s my partner, Jeremy Michaels.”

“Why are you here?” he asked again.

“Come on,” I said, pulling out of the hug and tugging on his arm. “Come sit down.”

“I got an alert about an hour ago. Someone accessed our server,” Dustin told us.

“Okay. And?” Kilo said, clearly agitated.

“Like I said, it could be nothing.” That was directed at me.

“You wouldn't be over here bothering my girl if it was nothing,” Kilo pointed out.

I elbowed him and gave a meaningful look in Carmen’s direction. She was sitting at the table, head down, staring at her plate. Her silence worried me. “Maybe you should go upstairs-”

“I’m okay,” she said. Her voice was firm, and when she looked up at me there was a determined look in her eyes. “I’m not a kid. I can handle it.”

She was a kid, but this involved her just as much as the rest of us, so I nodded. “Okay, Carmen.” I looked over at Dustin. “Why is this worrying you so much?” I could see it in his face. He was trying not to show us, but he was worried.

“Because the code was from the FBI and when I checked with the lead agent assigned to your case he knew nothing about it. He’s looking into it from his side.”

“What exactly does that mean?” I asked. “That they got into your server?”

“The U.S. Marshals have their own- Look, I don’t have time to explain it, but no one is supposed to be able to access Camila’s records except a handful of people since Kruzman keeps finding her.”

“And someone did?” Kilo insisted.

“Yeah.”

I blew out a long, heavy breath. Jeremy was standing quietly behind us. He never really spoke much, so that wasn’t unusual. The fear was clogging up my throat as I listened to them. Even though I knew that the guys were planning to have all this go down in another two days, this just seemed too soon. If Kruzman had found me, none of us were ready for that. It meant things were going to be that much more dangerous for Kilo and his brothers. I didn’t want that.

“Does that mean they have her information? Like...they know where she is?” Kilo asked, looking tense.

“Yeah. But I don’t know for sure that it wasn’t one of the FBI Agents who’s assigned to her case. I only spoke to the one, but he-”

“Shit,” Kilo muttered, cutting him off. “What are the fucking odds that it’s that innocent?” He shot me a worried look, then glanced over at Mama and sighed. She was looking just as upset as Carmen.

“Fifty-fifty, at best,” Dustin admitted.

“Fifty-fifty odds work against me one hundred percent of the time. What was your plan?” Kilo asked him with a scowl.

“To sit with them until I figured out who accessed our server,” Dustin said with a shrug.

This wasn’t good. At all. We were two days away from taking Kruzman down. And by ‘we’ I meant the guys. There was no way that this was a coincidence. That would be too easy.

“That’s not the worst idea,” Kilo told him in what was the closest to nice he could be. “Give me a minute.”

“Okay,” he said, sounding suspicious, but not arguing since Kilo was agreeing with him.

Kilo motioned to me, and I followed him out of the living room. “This isn’t a coincidence,” I told him.

“I don’t think so either,” he said, keeping his voice low so the others couldn't hear. “I need to get the guys, and our weapons. Will you stay with Dustin?”

“Of course,” I told him, rubbing my arm. “I’m so worried, Kilo…”

“Don’t be,” he told me, pulling me into a tight hug. “The only thing this changes is the timeline.”

I knew he was just trying to make me feel better. This changed everything. But he didn’t want me to worry. And I didn’t want him thinking about me when he needed to focus, so I nodded. “You’re right. I’m ready for this.”

“Good girl. Get your mom and sister ready to move, but don’t tell Dustin anything,” he warned me. “We can’t have him knowing we’re taking out Kruzman or we’ll all end up in prison.”

I nodded, determination filling me. I wasn’t a courageous person, but I could pretend. For him. For Mama and Carmen. I could do this. “I won’t.”

“I love you, Mercy.” He leaned back and cupped my cheeks. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle this. You just make sure to take care of yourself and your family. Keep your gun close. I’ll be back to take you to Roger’s as soon as I can. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Let’s go,” he told me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me into the dining room. “I’d rather sit with them, but I have to go to work.”

Dustin nodded. “No problem. We’ll be sitting with them until we get the all clear.”

“I’m only working a couple more hours today,” Kilo lied, giving me a pointed look, “so I’ll be back soon.”

Kilo gave me a kiss. He didn’t need to say the words out loud again to know what he was trying to tell me. Be watchful. Be safe. I put my hand on his chest to ease him and to let him know I understood. I watched as he walked out of the house, Jeremy locking the door after him.

Sighing, I looked back at Dustin. “How worried should we be?”

“I really don’t know, Camila,” he said. “I’m going to make a call.”

As soon as he left the dining room, I whispered, “Don’t say anything to them about Kilo’s plan,” I warned.

“We won’t,” Mama assured me. “What can we do to help?”

“Just be ready to move. As soon as Kilo gets back he’s taking us somewhere safe.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen yet,” Carmen said. Her voice sounded so small and lost.

It broke my heart to see the fear on her face. I wanted her to live free of that. Soon. “Don’t worry,” I said, echoing Kilo’s words. “The guys are going to take care of everything.”

Carmen nodded. “Okay.”

I needed to keep a brave face on to help them not be afraid, but deep down I was petrified. I trusted Kilo and the Saint’s Outlaws. I knew they could handle whatever came their way. That didn’t mean I wasn’t worried about their well-being. That I wasn’t scared for them. That I wasn’t scared for my family.

“We’re going to go upstairs,” I told Dustin in an upbeat voice.

He waved at me in acknowledgment as he continued to speak into his phone.

As soon as I was in my room, I grabbed my gun case, put the code in and pulled my weapon out. I loaded the magazine and clipped the holster to the back of my jeans. I’d seen Kilo do this more than once. It put the gun inside your pants, making it easier to conceal. I ripped my shirt off and grabbed one of the extra-large t-shirts I’d stolen from him over the last couple of weeks. I tucked the front into my jeans and left the back hanging down. It had the added bonus of wrapping me in his scent, calming me down, as well as hiding the gun.

I grabbed my bag and tossed it on the bed. There were only a few last-minute things to pack. Kilo wasn’t going to be back for at least an hour, or more, but I wanted to be ready when they got here. I had no idea how he planned to get rid of Dustin and Jeremy, but we’d think of something.

Placing a hand against my heart, I tried to slow it down because it was pounding at my chest. If this wasn’t some kind of misunderstanding—and I really didn’t think it was—this was all going down tonight. Maybe it was better this way. It meant two less days of torture, thinking about all the ways that things could go wrong on Saturday night. Because now it was happening Thursday night. I’d do whatever it took, whatever was asked of me, to make sure that both our families walked away from this fight alive and whole.