of Adelita’s eyes filling with tears as Ky had hit me. Of how scared she was. It was enough to reduce the raging fire in my stomach to a low burn. I crossed my arms across my chest and spoke. “We met when my old man and Quintana struck a deal. I didn’t know it at the time, but it must have been the trafficking shit. He kept me out of it. Didn’t include me. That’s when I met Adelita.”
“And what? Klan Romeo and Cartel Juliet fell madly in love?” Ky’s shitty attitude pissed me the fuck off.
I fought it and explained, “She made me see things differently. She made me see that the shit I’d been raised to believe was all bull.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Got out after that.” I looked Ky square in his face, getting a sick satisfaction out of seeing his lip was still bleeding. “Remember? I came here and gave you the intel you needed to get your woman out of that fucked-up cult. So let’s not pretend you don’t get me and why I’ve done what I’ve done. That you don’t understand that you’ll do anything to get the one you love.”
“You should have said something,” Tank said. “You should have told us. Shit, brother, you should have told me.”
“It was too dangerous.” I exhaled and tipped my head back to stare at the ceiling. “I was planning to get her out somehow. Work out a way . . . then we went to war.” I laughed a humorless laugh. “Not only with my fiancée’s father but with my family too. Anything I thought could work suddenly went out the fucking window.” I glanced at the chair she’d been sitting on. “Believe me, I didn’t bank on her being the one taken. I never thought she’d be delivered right into my hands.”
“If she’s your old lady, why the fuck was she marrying someone else?” Rudge said, asking the one question I had been thinking myself. I knew they’d all be thinking.
My heart started pounding as pictured her in that white dress. That ring on her finger and that guilty look in her eyes when she saw who was before her, looking at the evidence of her betrayal. “I don’t know,” I said hoarsely.
“Shi-it, brother,” Rudge said, whistling low. “You walked away from the Nazi crown for her, and she gets hitched—or almost gets hitched—to someone else?” He shook his head. “That shit’s gotta sting.”
It did. It was fucking destroying me.
“We have Quintana’s daughter.” Ky moved to stand next to Styx, shaking his head. “Daddy dearest is gonna be pissed. It was bad when we thought we only had the cousin. He’s gonna bring the fucking rain now we have his little girl.”
Styx lifted his hands. “We’re going on lockdown,” he signed; Ky spoke. “Get your old ladies and anything you need. We go on lockdown in four hours. No one leaves until this shit is dealt with and we know where we stand.” The brothers started filing out of the warehouse. Styx, Ky, and Tank stayed behind. Styx stepped even closer to me. “You’re gonna tell us all you know about Quintana. Every fucking thing.”
“It ain’t much. I told you, I was kept out of the deals. Found out about the trafficking when y’all did.”
“You tell us who works for him. The tactics he uses. Anything you can.”
“What about Adelita?” I asked when the tension had grown thicker again.
“She stays in Tank’s room, under guard,” Styx said.
“I’m not leaving her.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ve just got her back. I’m not losing her again. She can stay with me in mine.”
“The club you’ve joined just kidnapped her and is holding her against her will. You think she’ll be okay with you after that?” Tank asked.
I sighed, feeling fucking exhausted. “She doesn’t know what her father is involved in.”
Tank’s eyes grew suspicious. “You sure about that?”
“Yeah, I fucking am. She doesn’t know about the trafficking. The drugs, yeah.” I felt my chest warm. “Lita isn’t na?ve. She was brought up in the cartel life as much as we were the Klan and you guys were the club.” I pointed at Styx and Ky. “She isn’t some young delicate wallflower. She’s a fucking queen who knows how to thrive in a fucked-up life.”
“Match made in heaven,” Ky muttered, but I could tell the brother had calmed down from earlier. If this had been his bitch, he wouldn’t have hesitated