Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Javier peered at the man opposite him, both happy and annoyed to see him.

Happy because he was away from those who could protect him.

Annoyed because he was there.

He hadn’t had to see the man for a couple of weeks, and he’d been able to almost feel normal. Although, it was a big enough job ensuring the two others with Javier didn’t do anything stupid.

“Gomez. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I’m not sure why, since you know the reason why we’re all here.” The drug lord sniffed and looked around the room, as if he’d stepped into a gutter. Santiago and Gael hadn’t moved from the couch they sat on .

Admittedly, the house had seen better days. The carpet was stained with fuck knew what, and the walls were yellow from excessive cigarette use.

Normally, when he stayed in LA, Javier always stayed at a five-star hotel. It suited the image he’d created for himself. He couldn’t deny he’d grown used to luxuries, so he had to agree that staying in this shithole wasn’t the best of times.

“I know. I just expected some notice of your arrival. If I’d had that I would’ve made sure to make better housing arrangements for you.”

Gomez waved his words away. “While I find this place disgusting, it serves its purpose. If I know you, Javier, you will be staying in the best room in this house. And you would’ve made the necessary changes to make it more palatable. I’ll use your room.”

Javier clenched his jaw, grinding his back teeth so he didn’t say what he wanted to say. The fact that Gomez’s assumptions had been correct didn’t mean a thing to Javier.

The last thing he wanted to do was give up his bedroom, but he would because it was all part of the game he was playing. “Of course, Mr. Rook.”

The name tasted foul on his tongue, but with Santiago and Gael in the room, they would find it strange if he didn’t refer to him that way.

“Excellent.” Gomez glanced at the other two men. “You will both head back to Mexico. Javier and I will handle things from now on.”

Javier masked his shock. How the hell did Gomez think he was going to follow through on his plan with just the two of them? Unless others had arrived with him, and they were ensconced somewhere else.

“ Si, Se?or Rook,” they replied in unison and hastened out of the room as if their asses were on fire.

“Fools,” Gomez spat and wandered over to the wooden dining chair.

Another addition that Javier had added. No way was he sitting on the couch that had springs poking up out of the fabric.

How Santiago and Gael had sat on it amazed him, but then again, they’d spent a lot of their time with a bottle of tequila, so they likely didn’t feel a thing.

“What’s your plan for them?” Javier asked quietly, suspecting that Ramirez’s “fools” comment wasn’t said because he liked the word.

“They will find out when they get back to Mexico how unimpressed I am with what they’ve done here. Now, tell me what you know of my Cassandra. I want to know everything.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to say that Cassandra wasn’t his, but Javier swallowed the words. “ Not much. We’re being watched, but I’ve managed to slip out of the house unnoticed to observe her. The building she works in has guards, and she generally arrives and leaves in a vehicle that is parked beneath the building.”

“She does not leave during the day. She stays inside all the time?” The disbelief was apparent in Gomez’s voice.

“Correct.” No way was he going to tell Gomez about the one time she’d left the building. How it had taken all his skills to keep his presence away from the man Javier knew to be Irish, who’d walked beside her and the others who’d scoped the park out where they’d talked.

He’d almost gotten caught but had managed to slip away undetected. The guilt that always sat with him had dissipated a little when he’d gotten his first look at her after many, many years.

She’d looked happy. The reprieve from the guilt only lasted a couple of heartbeats before he realized her world was about to be upended in a way that would only lead to tragedy.

“Whoever she works for must pay for treating her that way. I will make them pay,” Ramirez’s edict pulled Javier from his thoughts.

“She doesn’t work overtime. She always leaves at a reasonable hour,” he countered. “Tell me what your plan is and how you’re going to bring Cassandra home.”

The words tasted foul in his mouth. He wanted to divert Gomez’s thoughts from Cassandra and back to what he believed he was going to do.

Knowledge was power, and discovering Gomez’s plan would make things easier to trap the drug boss and to free Cassandra for life. Javier would get his life back at the same time.

Although he had no idea what he was going to do after it was all over. The life he’d known was so far in the past he had trouble remembering what he was like before he’d taken on this assignment.

There was no one waiting for Javier.

No family.

He was all alone.