Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“Hey, man.” She held up her hands and met his frigid gray eyes. “I’m not the one who shot you.”
His gaze turned inward. He scratched his shoulder—the old wound hidden beneath his shirt—and the corner of his mouth twitched. “Good thing Liv missed my heart.”
Was that a good thing? Maybe so. If Liv had aimed true, Van wouldn’t have lived to help them in the most valuable way possible. Financially.
“The thing I can’t figure out, though…” He narrowed his eyes. “How did you know I didn’t die? Liv says this guy, whoever you’re about to call, doesn’t have a way to contact you. If he didn’t tell you I wasn’t there…” He tipped his head to the side. “Were you watching the house?”
“No, I…” Jesus fuck, this is an awkward conversation. “I went there to clean up the blood. Except you didn’t leave any behind, and your car was gone.”
He nodded absently, seemingly absorbed in thought, so she slipped around him and opened the front door.
“Camila.”
Her breath caught. Christ, would she always flinch at the bark of Van’s voice?
Standing behind her, he squeezed her shoulder and removed his touch. “I’m sorry.”
For which part? Snatching her from her front yard? Tying her up? Spitting in her face? Shoving his cock in her mouth?
“For everything.” His footsteps retreated, leaving her shaken and off-balance.
Dammit, not the best frame of mind for the call she had to make.
It had been four years since she’d spoken to Matias. Did his promise to always help her still hold true? What if his number was disconnected?
Only one way to find out.
Her heart hammered as she stepped into the chilly darkness and dialed.
THE VIBRATION OF THE PHONE SHATTERED the chilly stillness in the SUV. Matias glanced at the screen, and a smirk pulled at his lips.
There had been a time when a call from an unknown number had sent his heart rate into a frenzy. But that was years ago, before he’d invested in spies, surveillance, and drone technology.
Parked on a barren road in the outskirts of rural Austin, he stretched out in the driver’s seat and met Nico’s gaze in the rear-view mirror.
“You gonna answer that¸ careverga?” Nico dropped his head against the backseat and closed his eyes as if he didn’t give a fuck either way.
The pompous ass had apathy down to an art. Nico could yawn through mass beheadings and play games on his phone during gunfights, but everything he did was calculated. His brutal intellect and mafia-style code of respect made him the most feared cartel capo in Colombia.
Matias knew the man behind the reputation, though. He trusted Nico, not only with his life, but with Camila’s.
“She made me wait four fucking years.” He held the vibrating phone in one hand and a wide screen tablet in the other. “I want to watch her sweat.”
Live video streamed on the tablet, transmitted from a drone that circled four-hundred feet above Van Quiso’s cabin. The quadcopter’s modified cameras, with high-powered lenses and night vision, provided a bird’s eye view of her position on the front porch while remaining outside of her range of hearing.
His phone cycled through another burst of vibrations and fell quiet.
“Well done.” Nico’s voice, while monotone to an irritating degree, held a tinge of amusement. “If she doesn’t call back, you’ll be an unbearable hijueputa.”
“She’ll call back.” Matias tapped on the image of her head, initiating the drone’s active track feature.
The small, self-flying aircraft adapted to its surroundings, using sonar detection to avoid anything in its path as it followed her movements through the yard. The aerial footage flickered between nebulous and grainy, but when he magnified the picture, he could make out the pixelated curve of a hand as it raked through her hair.
Was she thinking about him? Wondering if he was dead or alive? Probably cursing him for not answering the phone. What would she do if she knew he was parked less than a mile away, watching her?
She paced a circuit across the front lawn, activating perimeter lights that illuminated her slender frame. She stopped, kicked at something in the grass, and raised a hand to her ear.
His phone buzzed again. Unknown number.
He found Nico’s reflection in the mirror and arched a brow.
“Don’t look so smug, ese.” Nico loosened the knot on his tie. “She’ll run the other way as soon as she learns what you’ve done.”
Camila didn’t run from anything. Not even when they were kids. No, she would look him dead in the eye. Then she would kill him.
He placed the phone on the dash, set the call on speaker, and answered the way she expected. “Who is this?”
“Hey. It’s been awhile, huh?” Her voice was strong, confident, but in the video, she doubled over, a hand braced on her knee.
His insides constricted in sympathy, stirring up years of anguish. Did she resent the time and distance between them as much as he did? Not likely. If she did, she would’ve fucking called.