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I climbed inside.
When I was twelve, I had seen Marco Ruiz getshot in the neck. He had been fourteen at the time and my friend.We had been buying weed off Geronimo Plazas in the corner of themain street when a car slowed and started shooting at us.Afterward, I couldn’t remember what I’d done during those secondsof gunfire. I had blanked out and woke up when Geronimo had steppedon my hand to run out of there. I had felt wet and sticky on myback. It hadn’t been until I got up that I realized I had fallen onMarco’s blood. I’d been covered in it when the cops arrived, unableto talk about anything. When Dad picked me up, he had slapped meand told me to man up. After that, he let Miguel take me with himto target practice at an open field.
“You have to control what you do when theadrenaline hits you,” Miguel had said. Then he pointed the gun atme and fired. The bullet grazed my ear, I felt the ripple of air athow close it’d come to killing me. I peed my pants and lost some ofmy hearing that day. He laughed and told me to run. And anotherbullet sailed. I didn’t run the first day, or the second day wewent out. The third day, I didn’t piss on myself. And the fourthday, I ran.
“Fear is something you conquer,” Miguelfinally said. “Fear is something you meet head on.”
On the eighth day. I hadn’t run. I tackledhim to the ground and got two strikes to his face before heoverpowered me.
The surge of fear bursting through me nowwarred inside of me. I didn’t want to believe what I knew to betrue. I didn’t want to believe that the guy I’d fallen for was abrutal killer.
Please work. Please.I pushed theignition and it turned on. “Good girl. Just please, save me.”
My clean escape died a silent death when ablack SUV stopped in front of me, about twenty yards out, blockingmy path. I didn’t need to see the passenger inside to know that itwas Kieran. I sensed him glaring at me. I stared at the windshieldfor a second, unable to move. Fear forced my chest to tighten. Thecrazy son of a bitch had the upper hand, and he knew it.
Kieran revved the SUV in warning.
I wasn’t going to give in without a fight. Islammed the gear into first and jolted forward. The wheels spun,but then caught against the snow. I swerved to flank him on hisside, but he acted quick and turned the SUV, clipping my fender.The impact sent me spinning into the trees. The airbag exploded inmy face. A tree a new hood ornament. Adrenaline fueled, I pushedthe door open, dropped on the cold snow, and ran into the woods,under the canopy of trees, into the shadows because freezing todeath out in the open woods was better than getting stabbed in theheart.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kieran
He ran as if death were chasing him.
Because deathwascoming for him.
Me.
That’s all that flooded my neuro pathways.Tomás ran from me.
What a joke. I watched him disappear intothe woods as if he’d survive it. No, knowing him. He didn’t care tosurvive it. He just wanted to get away from me. The why of itdidn’t even matter anymore.
I pulled all the needless emotions out of mymind.
I was a fool to trust him. With my bow in myleft hand and Antonio’s gun in my right, I followed Tomás into thetrees. I still wasn’t sure what I meant to do to him. Shooting himwas not an option. But I had to be prepared for any and allscenarios. Rationally, Tomás was a threat. He knew too much. Maddoxwas his sponsor. He could be working with the Brennans whoobviously found out about the takeover and meant to end me. Exceptit made no sense. Too many unknowns in play left me gearing up fora hunt. Tomás was hiding something that spooked him. That wasgrounds enough to get him back alive.
These woods were our playground. It’d beenwhere The Ark Boys trained, hunted, and sometimes just messedaround. It had been the one place where we had felt safe. I knewthe surrounding area like I knew every line of scar my grandfatherhad left me. Tomás didn’t have a chance. Not to mention, the trackson the snow led me right to him. He hadn’t gone far before he optedto hide behind an old birch.
“Tomás,” I said. “Stop running. There’snowhere you can go that I can’t find you.” I made sure my voicesounded darker than usual.
“You’re the reason my father and brothersare dead!” he cried out, revealing his location.
I let that information sink in. “You have tobe more specific, Tomás. I’ve killed a lot of fathers and sons.” Ikept my voice free of emotion.
A terrible sob ripped out of his throat, andI hated myself for it. “Joaquín Moya, you asshole! Joaquín Moya wasmy father! And I saw you at the club talking shit with TalisAlvarez!”
I paused, took in my surroundings. I wasn’tsure if he had a weapon. I wished he didn’t. I didn’t want to shoothim. When he didn’t move, I ran what he said in my head.
Talis Alvarez was one of Tor’s aliases. Hehad been the one to make contact with Joaquín and Trinidad to getthem to work with us to disrupt my grandfather’s drug lines. We hadforced Cillian to borrow from his legitimate businesses to pay thedangerous people he owed money to. And then we used his own assetsto buy it all out from under his nose. It had been perfect.Should’ve gone smoothly. But Trinidad Sr., had panicked. Joaquínkilled him and then tried to kill Talis. Everything got fucked andwe pulled out. Maddox erased their male bloodlines. All but twoteens. Nicolás and Tomás. How had I missed the connection?
I took a small step toward his voice. “Yourfather was helping me.”
“Then why are you alive and he’s dead!”
“Because he killed Trinidad.”
There was a slight pause as he absorbed thisinformation. He hadn’t known. “You lie! Trinidad was his bestfriend. My father would never!”
