Malo - Page 60

“I don’t need to make it for you,” he replies. “No way is Beast going to let you come with us?—”

“That’s why I’m asking for your help,” I tell him, changing my approach slightly. I need to get him on my side. Just find some way to convince him to let me ride with him, let me come out there.

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” he warns, and I tighten my fists at my sides. I know he’s just trying to protect me, but it annoys me, being brushed off like this.

“Yes, I do,” I reply. “They had me under their control for weeks, remember? I know what they’re like. And I want to be there with you when you take them down.”

“Being on their side and fighting against them are very different things,” he tells me, cocking an eyebrow.

“I’m well aware,” I shoot back, voice taut. “But I know how to handle myself. Ask any of the guys, they all saw me at the shooting range, while you were…”

I trail off before I can finish that sentence, though we both know exactly where it goes. When he was overdosing. When he was on the brink. When he made a choice that could have put him in the ground. His face shifts slightly.

“Yeah, I get it,” he mutters. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to put you in the middle of a fucking warzone!”

“You’re not putting me there,” I point out to him. “I’m asking to be there. Please, Malo, just listen to me, I know I can help?—”

“No way,” he tells me. “No fucking way.”

“And what about my father?” I blurt out, as he turns to head back down the corridor. I follow him; the place is filled with other Kings, preparing for their all-out assault on the Las Rosas Negras compound. I hardly notice any of them. I’m just trying to get him to listen to me, to trust that I’m actually capable of what I’m telling him I am. I know it must be hard for him to believe, but I need him to be on my side here. I need him to bring me with them.

“What about him?” he shoots back.

“He’ll be with them, I know it,” I tell him. “I need to get him out.”

“I already told you, we’re going to do everything we can to get your father out alive,” he retorts. There it is—they’re going to do everything they can but it’s not enough.

“I need him to get out of there, Malo, you don’t understand,” I plead with him. “I can handle it myself. You won’t even have to worry about him, I’ll find him and?—”

“Yeah, but I’ll have to worry about you,” he shoots back, and the sincerity in his voice catches me off-guard. When he stops in his tracks to face me again, I can see so much written on his face – dark circles beneath his eyes, skin drawn from the dehydration and exhaustion of his ordeal. But, most of all, the fear in his eyes. Fear of losing me? That’s what it feels like…

“I promise you won’t,” I tell him. “I can handle myself. I’m good at this.”

“We have to focus on taking down the cartel,” he counters. “We can’t let anything get in the way of that. Everyone has to be focused. Everyone who’s coming on this mission.”

I part my lips to try and argue with him further, but he lifts a slightly-shaky hand to stop me.

“I can’t argue with you about this anymore,” he tells me. “I need to prepare.”

“Malo!” I yell after him, but he’s already gone, running on fumes, already made his mind up about what is going to happen here. Fuck! I want to scream, tell him to come back here and talk to me, but I know it’s not going to do a damn bit of good. He’s already made his mind up.

And I just have to stand here and hope, somehow, that there’s another way for me to get down there. Because if they think I’m going to leave my father’s rescue up to chance, they’re very mistaken.

I have the gun at my side, that’s something, and Bella is probably stashed away in a room by now, safer here than she would be anywhere else, so I don’t have to stick around and keep an eye on her. I need to follow them out there, one way or another. There has to be someone willing to take me, even if Malo is digging his heels in and refusing. It’s not going to be that easy to get me to drop this, not with all that’s at stake.

Outside, there’s so much chaos as everyone prepares, nobody even pays attention to me. I look around, searching for someone who might be willing to give me what I need without spilling it to Malo, but I can tell that they’re all going to fill him in the moment I even ask. Shit! What the fuck am I going to do?

I can feel frustrated tears pricking my eyes, and I do my best to pull myself together. I need to stop freaking out like this. I just feel like I’m finally close to getting my father back, and I’m being stopped before I can take this final step. I know he’s with them, I’m sure of it, I’m certain they’re using him as some kind of leverage now they know that I’m working with the Kings. And if things go wrong… I know the Kings will prioritize taking down the cartel over my father.

Maybe it’s selfish for me to be so focused on one thing, but it’s hard to give a damn right now. I head around the compound, trying to keep the panic from getting the better of me, but it’s already starting to shoot through my body. I have to go back to my room, pull myself together. If I’m a mess, it’s even less likely that anyone is going to?—

Just as I reach the bottom of the stairs, someone grabs my hand. I turn, and see Bella standing there.

“Bella?” I ask, confused. “What’s going on?”

She lifts her finger to her lips, and leads me toward the back door. I follow her, no idea what’s going on, but willing to do whatever she wants right now, as long as it gets me out of my head for a moment.

Once we’re out of earshot of the rest of the Kings, she glances around to make sure we’re alone, and then leans in to fill me in.