Malo - Page 21

Malo shoves him against the wall, and Rayo raises his hands slowly, as though he knows he’s been caught. There’s not a chance he stands of getting away from these three, and he knows it. His gaze slides over to me, and the glower he gives me sends a shiver down my spine. I tense up, and pull my eyes away from him. I know exactly what he thinks of me right now, exactly what he would do to me given the chance—exactly how he would repay me for betraying them like this.

Malo slaps on a pair of zip-tie cuffs, and yanks Rayo toward the door. He stumbles slightly, but Malo hardly seems to notice, as he pushes him toward Thor and Sin.

“Take him downstairs,” he spits out, the words laced with a murderous anger I haven’t heard come out of his mouth before. Not even when he thought I was the one who fucked him over.

“We need to get him back to the compound,” he continues. “For questioning.”

Thor nods in agreement, and he and Sin each take one of Rayo’s arms and steer him toward the door. Rayo seems to know better than to fight this; he knows he’s caught, and, judging by the look on the Kings’ faces, one wrong move, and they’ll take the excuse to finish him off for good.

I stand up again, my heart pounding in my chest. I can still feel the spots on my arms where Rayo grabbed me, can still hear his words rolling around my head, like some kind of torture. I know what he would have done to me, given the chance.

I shiver, and then try to push that thought aside. But he didn’t get the chance, that’s what matters here. He didn’t get the chance to hurt me, and that’s what I need to remember. Malo sees me hanging back and he pauses before he follows the other two down the corridor.

“Maria,” he murmurs, and somehow, the sound of my name on his lips settles something in my chest.

I let out a long, shaky breath. “Sorry,” I mutter, and I wrap my arms around myself and head to the door. “Can we get out of here?”

“Of course. Vamos,” he replies, and he shoots a look ahead of us, where Rayo is being bundled down the stairs toward the car waiting outside.

“We need to get him back to the compound,” he growls. “Ask him a few questions. See what he knows.”

Judging by the look on his face, I know he isn’t talking about having a chat over some coffee. Rayo is going to be forced to give up everything he knows, or he’s going to pay the price for it.

But after what he’s done, it’s hard to feel sorry for him.

CHAPTER 17

MALO

Istuff a few items of clothing into my bag, filling it up quickly. We’re leaving in less than two hours, and I’ve left it to the last minute to get ready for this trip we’re about to take.

But, with everything that happened with Rayo and Maria, it’s not as though I don’t have good reason. I can’t stop thinking about what I overheard through her wire, the way he spoke to her, how he threatened her. If anything, it’s made me even more certain that we need to bring them down for good, make them pay for everything they’ve done.

But first, I have a trip to Mexico to get Maria’s father out of captivity. Beast has already made it clear he doesn’t exactly think it’s a good plan, but he knows that when I get an idea in my head, I’m not going to let go of it. And this is what Maria needs from us—this is what she’s asked for, what she wants. After everything she’s done, the risk she’s put herself in for us, I think it’s what she deserves.

She’s brave. Braver than I thought. The way she talked to Rayo before, the way she lied to him so convincingly, she’s better suited to this life than she probably wants to admit, even to herself. She knows how to handle herself in a tough situation, and she’s managed to hand us Rayo on a silver platter.

He’s being held by the other Kings right now, in our lock-up, and I don’t envy the guys who have the task of getting the information we need out of him. I get the feeling he’s going to make it difficult for us to find out what we need. Some misplaced sense of loyalty to El Serpiente, for whatever reason. He must be paid well to keep his mouth shut.

It’s only a matter of time before someone notices that he’s missing, and, with the information that Maria has been feeding to Las Rosas Negras, they’re going to know we had something to do with the kidnapping. I wouldn’t be surprised if El Serpiente has already sent down a cabal of his men to get in our way, cause us some real trouble. Luring them away from Mexico will make my job easier, but I can’t help but worry about Beast and the rest of the Kings down here. Will they be able to take the fury of whatever El Serpiente has to throw at them?

I can’t think about that right now, I have to keep my focus. What matters is following through on what I’ve promised to Maria. She was asking me about the plan to get her father back earlier today, and when I told her that we were leaving this afternoon, her eyes lit up with excitement.

“Really?” she blurted out, a smile spreading across her face. I didn’t see her smile much, and there was something warm and sincere in the way she grinned at me. I nodded.

“Yeah, really,” I replied, turning my attention back to our plans.

Blue and I are heading out later this afternoon, meeting some of our contacts in Monterrey, after we fly out on a chartered plane Blue managed to talk our way on to. We still have to figure out what we’re going to do when we actually get there, but once we’ve had a chance to scope the place out a little, we’ll be able to put together a plan to get Maria’s father to safety.

There is a knock at my door, and I look up to see Maria standing there, leaning on the frame, a strange look in her eyes.

“Maria?” I mutter, straightening up. “What is it?”

She inhales deeply, flicks her tongue out over her lips, and then speaks. “I want to come with you.”

I stare at her for a moment, and then snort with laughter. “No,” I tell her. “No way. You have to be crazy. You’re staying here, where it’s safe.”

“No, listen to me,” she pleads, as she takes a step into the room, hitting me with those big, beautiful brown eyes that I have a hard time resisting.