Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 105089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
There was another quiet knock, and Bernard walked in with a pair of fuzzy socks and a tray with some sandwiches. Alejandro stood and took the socks from him, pulling the blanket away from her feet so he could put them on her.
Standing, he nodded his thanks at Bernard, who watched her worriedly.
The Scot and Cairn entered as Bernard left.
“All of you, sit down. Cairn? The Cleaner got there okay?”
“Yep, I waited until they let me know they were close and then left. The Cleaner doesn’t like anyone hanging around.”
“Nobody knows who the fuck The Cleaner is,” Reuben said, frowning.
Alejandro knew that annoyed him. Reuben liked to know everything. That’s why he’d been like a dog with a bone, trying to figure out if money was being taken from Alejandro’s businesses.
This stuff about Mikey had to be torturing him. It was killing Alejandro.
He’d allowed that asshole to be close to his girl. He’d trusted him.
“Can’t believe we didn’t know about Mikey,” The Scot muttered. “Fucking bastard. If he was still alive, I’d rip his cock off and feed it to him.”
Yeah, Alejandro agreed with that sentiment.
“How is Rafael?” Reuben asked.
“Out of ICU, thankfully. The doctors expect a full recovery, but he will need some time to rest.”
At least he had some good news to tell Cat when she woke up. “I want a full report into Mikey. Cat said he has an apartment, which Starla moved into. Find it. Search it. I want to know where she was all this time. Cat said that Starla was behind the attacks on The Circus and the girls. And that Mikey was the one stealing from me.”
“Fuck. I was so close to capturing him,” Reuben said.
Alejandro knew how much this had to be torturing him. They were all blaming themselves.
“Not your fault.” Nope. It was all his fault. “I want to know who this fucking bastard is. The one who’s calling himself the Deity.”
All three of them nodded.
“Who are you going to replace Rafael with while he recovers?” Reuben asked.
“No one. Cat isn’t leaving the house ever again. Not without me.”
They all shot each other looks.
“Scot, Cairn, can you talk to Nighthawk and see what he has on Mikey so far,” Alejandro said.
They nodded and left. The Scot gave Cat a concerned look as he left, but she was still sound asleep in her fort.
Reuben remained. He eyed Alejandro thoughtfully.
“Do not try to reason with me right now, Reuben,” Alejandro warned him. “I won’t be swayed.”
“Fuck, man. I’m the last person to talk you off the crazy mountain. I’m right there with you. If I had a wife, I wouldn’t let her out of the house either. Especially if she runs into as many problems as Cat. But we know Cat can get into trouble anywhere. And Bernard isn’t going to rein her in. So, do you want someone watching her while she’s here?”
Alejandro relaxed slightly. Reuben wasn’t wrong. Cat could get into trouble anywhere. But Mikey had eroded a lot of his trust. So the only people he could trust to guard her until Rafael recovered were Reuben, Cairn, and The Scot. “I’ll be here as much as possible for the foreseeable future. When I’m not here, I’ll leave Cairn or The Scot.”
“You’ll need extra protection.”
“They didn’t target me. But Gage can come with me in the meantime. Tobias is still with Immy, and I want him to stay there with this new threat from Cat’s past. I’ve let all her friends know of the danger. I should have left Mikey live so we could have extracted everything he knew about this wannabe-Deity.”
“That would have been satisfying,” Reuben said darkly. “Don’t worry, we’ll find this fucker.”
They better. Because he couldn’t handle another threat to Cat.
“At least we know about this one. I never saw Mikey coming.” And that fucked him off.
“None of us did,” Reuben said grimly. “Don’t beat yourself up too much for that.”
Alejandro shot him a look and Reuben gave him a wry grin. They both knew that Alejandro would be blaming himself forever for this.
Someone he’d trusted, who’d worked for him, had hurt his wife.
That was completely unacceptable.
27
“I’ve come back for you, Catarina. You thought you could leave? Could escape me? There’s no escape from me.” The Deity glared down at her, his eyes dark and cold.
Cat scowled. “I’m not yours! You’ll never have me. And you’re dead!”
His face morphed. Now it was Starla glaring down at her. “Stupid bitch! Did you think you could take Vince from me and live?”
“I don’t want Vince! Gross! He attacked me!” she cried.
Now Mikey was smiling down at her. “You need to die, Cat. I’m destined for greater things.”
“Die, Cat. Die!”
Mikey disappeared and the Deity stood there once more.
“You’re mine, Catarina. Surrender to me!” The Deity smiled.
“Cat!”
“I’ll never let you go, Cat!”
“Pequeña, wake up!”