Page 39 of Raphael

She swallowed hard then handed me the gun. It was only now that her hand shook slightly and Caine took the gun from her.

She straightened up and Gabriel immediately lifted his head, his eyes wide and full of fear. Not exactly the best first day with my half-brother. I watched them both in the rearview mirror while speeding down the road, leaving the wreck we caused behind us.

“You good, Gabriel?” I asked him.

He nodded, then turned his eyes to his mother. “Mom, are we going to die?”

I watched in the mirror as Sailor took Gabriel’s face between her hands.

“No, we’re not going to die,” she said in her firm voice. “I won’t let that happen.” Her eyes flickered up and met mine in the mirror. I nodded, confirming her statement.

Gabriel followed her gaze. “Who are you? Are you mom’s friend?”

Smart little guy.

I’d let Sailor explain that one. I’d protect him with my life but I wouldn’t destroy everything that Sailor had told him.

“He’s a friend-of-a-friend type of thing,” Sailor muttered, her cheeks flushing. “Umm, we ran into each other yesterday and now he’s helping me.” She stuck to a half-truth. “What do we do now?” Sailor asked me. “I can’t go back to my place. It’d put my friends in direct danger.”

“We need to get out of here,” I told her. “I’ll shoot a message to my friend to keep an eye on both of them.”

“Which friends?” I rasped. “Not the ones like-”You.

I shook my head. Didn’t she know her friend was already with someone like me?

“Alexei will keep Aurora safe,” I answered, keeping it general. There was no surprise on her face. Just a simple nod. “As for your other friend, I already have someone in mind.”

She sighed, then pushed her hand through her hair. “What a disaster,” she grumbled. “I ended up putting everyone in danger.”

It was her published article about the Tijuana Cartel insinuating bribes to prominent politicians and pictures of smuggling of women that put her on everyone’s radar. Or at least the Tijuana Cartel radar.

“It’s done now,” I told her with a growl. I was surprised she didn’t think of consequences before sending that article to print. She was smart; she knew it’d bring trouble to her door. She had a son to think about.

I dragged my phone from my pocket while speeding down the highway and towards the private airport.

“Raphael, twice in less than twenty-four hours,” Nico’s familiar voice greeted me.

“I need a ‘clean up’ service. I’ll send you the pinned location. Three vehicles, possible casualties.”

He chuckled. “It didn’t take you long,” he mused.

“The Tijuanas,” I grumbled. “I’d have expected them to clear out after yesterday’s disaster.”

“Hmmm,” Nico muttered pensively. “So would I. They are all about fleeing before they catch you. It seems odd they would risk being caught. I would have expected them to leave the country. Yet, they went after the girl.”

“Me too.” Something about what Sailor said bothered me. Nobody knew about the Ashfords’ cabin. Not even Nico’s app was able to see it on his surveillance. And Nico had the best resources. “Can you look into it?”

“You got it.”

The call ended and I pocketed my phone, then glanced behind me to see Sailor keeping Gabriel in her arms. Nobody could accuse her of being a bad mother. The kid clearly loved her.

My eyes traveled over her ridiculous tank top with ‘Bite Me’ written on her full breasts and shorts that had her long legs exposed. It was the kind of body that would have men drooling. Her ocean deep eyes and pouty lips probably had men falling all over themselves.

Yes, I was well on my way to being one of those men. But it was the look in her eyes that rattled something deep in my chest.Vulnerability.It made me want to protect her at all costs.

It was that shattered look that’d make me go savage for her.

ChapterTwenty-One