The Vargas Cartel Trilogy: Books 1 - 3

by Lisa Cardiff

  Just when I decided to give up and go to sleep, the door opened. Ryker stood, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe. His sunglasses hung from the collar of his shirt. His shirt was wrinkled, his sleeves rolled to the middle of his forearms. I stopped pacing.

  “You’re up.”

  I rested my hands on my hips. “I am.”

  “Did you eat?” He looked from me to the open balcony door. The ocean breeze had snuffed out the candles hours ago.

  “No. Did you eat?” I shot back.

  He dragged a hand over the side of his face. “Rever and I ate dinner near the hospital.”

  “Hm.”

  He took a few steps in my direction and I retreated. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You said you’d be back for dinner.”

  He ran his hands through his hair. “I know. Something came up. Didn’t you get my voicemail?”

  “No.” I rubbed a hand over my face. “I had to turn off my phone an hour ago.”

  Ryker set his sunglasses on the dresser and began unbuttoning his shirt. “Why’s that?”

  “Because my parents won’t stop calling. They’re freaking out.”

  “Ah,” he murmured, emptying his pockets. “I don’t doubt it. Did you tell them where you were?”

  “No,” I snapped.

  “Good.”

  I scrunched up my nose. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “We’re leaving the day after tomorrow. I already booked our flight. Send them a text. Tell them you took a road trip to clear your head, and you’ll be home in a couple of days. There’s no need to make them worry.” He unbuckled his pants and pushed them down his legs. His belt buckle clanged against the tile floor.

  My breathing accelerated, and I blinked, trying to erase the lust building inside of me with every piece of clothing he shed.

  “I guess not,” I whispered, staring at the wall above his head.

  He settled onto the edge of the bed, wearing nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs. “Come here, Hattie,” he said, his voice thick like honey.

  “No.” I shook my head.

  He grinned. “I want to touch you. I missed you.”

  My eyes connected with his. “You did?”

  “Always.” He held out his hand. “I can’t wait to go home. I hate it here. I’ve always hated it here.”

  “So do I.” We gravitated to each other like two lodestones unable to resist the pull any longer.

  He hauled me onto his lap and slid his arms around my waist. “We’re never coming back.”

  “We’re not?” I ran my hands up and down his arms. When he held me, I felt strong. Safe. Cherished.

  “No.” He brushed a gentle kiss across my lips, lingering there without moving, savoring the connection. The smoky flavor of bourbon coated his lips.

  “Why not?” I whispered against his lips.

  He unknotted my robe and pushed it down my shoulders. “We shouldn’t have come here.” His fingertips trailed over the swells of my breasts. Shivers danced down my spine, and I arched into his touch. Needing it. Craving it. Treasuring the urgency of his touch. “After tomorrow, I’m done with Ignacio and Rever. They’ll be out of our lives forever.”

  “Why tomorrow? Why not today?”

  “I have one more thing to do tomorrow and that’s it.” He flipped me onto my back and pressed his body into mine. His spicy scent clouded my thoughts and ignited a fever in my blood.

  “You’re going back to the hospital?”

  He shook his head. “No. Rever and I need to take care of some loose ends at the Vargas compound. I’ll be back late tomorrow night, and we’ll be on the first flight out of here.”

  I traced the line of his jaw with my fingers. “Do you want me to come with you tomorrow?”

  “No. Stay. You’ll be safer here.” His hands roamed my skin, exploring, caressing, memorizing every curve, and investigating every freckle.

  “I was so bored today. I didn’t leave the room. I stared at my computer screen all day.”

  “You didn’t go to the pool or the beach?” His lips moved down my neck, splintering my thoughts.

  I rolled my head to the side. “Tomorrow I’m going to go running,” I mumbled, more as a promise to myself than him.

  He paused and his eyes locked on mine. “Don’t run too far. Stay close to the hotel.”

  Fear jolted through my body. “Why?”

  He smiled as he cradled my stomach. “Do you have to question everything?”

  “I don’t like to be left in the dark.” He kissed my belly, and I ran my fingers through his inky hair. “What are you doing?”

  “Giving our baby a kiss. I think he missed me.”

  I placed my hand over his. “You’re okay with this? I mean…” Words escaped me. There were so many reasons why I shouldn’t have this baby and only one I should—I loved him, and by extension, the baby.

  He smiled. “The timing isn’t perfect. We don’t have everything figured out. Senator Deveron isn’t going to leave us alone, not yet anyway. But yes, I want you, and I want our baby.”

  Silent tears slid down my face. I was so fucking emotional. I wanted to slap myself sometimes. “Okay.”

  “Hey.” He braced his body on his forearms, and a lock of hair brushed his forehead. “Don’t cry. Everything is going to be okay.”

  I wiped my face. “I want that to be true, but sometimes I don’t think we’ll ever find a way out of this mess.”

  “We will.”

  “Maybe you’re right. I’m just afraid the only way for us to be together is to give up everyone in our life. Our family. Our friends.”

  He held my gaze. “Yes,” he said quietly, but he didn’t seem upset by the prospect. He stroked my lower lip, and my heart flew like a bird inside of my chest.

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  His eyes fell to my mouth. “Definitely. Are you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He cupped my breasts as his thumb toyed with my nipples. “We have our own family now. If your family and friends don’t want to be part of your life, it’s their loss, but I think they’ll come around.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath as his mouth trailed along my collarbone, and one of his hands slipped between my thighs. Stroke-by-stroke, touch-by-touch, kiss-by-kiss, my concerns dimmed until they faded away entirely.

  “What are you doing to me?” I mumbled, my body humming with desire.

  He rocked against me, and I circled my legs around his waist. “I’m showing you that we don’t need anyone else as long as we have each other,” he said with a lopsided grin.

  I pushed his boxer briefs down his legs. “I like the sound of that.”

  He didn’t waste a second before he pushed inside of me. A primitive sound vibrated deep in his throat. He twisted his hands in my hair as he captured my lips with bruising kisses that stole my heart and unshackled my soul. His hips hammered against mine in a brutal rhythm. I answered every thrust with one of my own. Clutching the sides of his face in my hands, I pulled his ear next to my mouth, and I whispered how much I loved him and that having him was enough. More than enough. Minutes later, we both cried out, climaxing in unison. It was the perfect beginning to our new life together. Just Ryker and me against the world. Always.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ryker

  “How much longer?” I asked, drumming my hands against the leather steering wheel.

  “Any minute,” Rever answered without glancing at me.

  “Dammit, Rever. Text her. The mass is going to end in less than twenty minutes, and then we’ll be fucked. I’m not getting into a gunfight on the church steps. I’m not religious, but I have limits.”

  He rolled down the window of the car and a wave of humid heat collided with the air-conditioned interior. “I did text her.”

  “Text her again.”

  “She knows we’re here. She’ll be here any second.”

  “Unless she set us up and we’re
about to get slaughtered.”

  His head whipped around. “She wouldn’t do that.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just do.”

  “Fine, but if she doesn’t walk out that door in the next ten minutes, I’m leaving. You can come with me, or you can stay. I don’t care.”

  “She’ll come,” he murmured. “I’m not worried.”

  Time ticked by, second-by-second. I stared at the dashboard, willing ten minutes to pass. Part of me wanted Anna to keep her ass firmly planted on that wooden pew and reject Rever forever. The other part of me prayed she’d hurry the fuck up so I could put the final punctuation mark on this chapter of my life and move forward with Hattie and our baby.

  With two minutes to spare, a petite woman with long black hair and a white full-length dress ran down the front steps, a straw tote bag clutched in her hand. She had a flawless olive complexion except the J-shaped scar near her right temple.

  Rever flung the car door open. “Anna.”

  She waved her hands above her head. “Go back to the car. We can’t do this today. They know something is going on.”

  “No,” Rever yelled as he stalked up the steps. “You’re coming with me today.”

  Anna glanced over her shoulder. A man dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt pushed open the front door of the church. “Go. Go without me,” Anna yelled, moving slowly back up the steps.

  Rever charged forward, grabbing her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. She pounded her fists on his back and kicked her legs. “Suéltame. Suéltame, abusón,” she screamed, pleading for him to let her go.

  “No.”

  “Dammit,” I muttered.

  I knew this wouldn’t work. It was too simple. Too many things could go wrong. I snagged my gun off the center console and jumped out of the car. I held the gun in front of me and used the hood to shield my body. The man in the black t-shirt lifted a gun and aimed it at Rever’s head. I didn’t stop to think. I pulled the trigger.

  The shot exploded through the air, drowning out the hum of the church hymn. His gun fell out of his hand, clattering down the steps and rolling to a stop in the street. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his bicep. His face drained of color as blood poured down his arm, splattering on the pristine ivory steps.

  Screams drifted from inside the church walls. Rever set Anna on her feet. He stared at the scene, frozen in the moment, not moving, not breathing. Tears poured down her face as she stuffed her fist into her mouth and bent at her waist.

  “Move.” I pounded my hand against the hood. “Get in the car. We have to leave now.”

  Car tires squealed around the corner, and I dove in the front seat. Rever grabbed Anna’s wrist and yanked her down the steps. She slapped his chest and clawed at his hand as she tried to break free. “He’s my brother. I can’t leave him. He’s bleeding. Oh my God. This my fault. This was a dumb idea. I knew it.”

  Rever shoved her in the backseat and jumped in beside her. He looped his arms around her waist and rocked her back and forth. “It’s going to be okay. It’s just a flesh wound. Nothing more,” he whispered next to her ear.

  A car swerved around us, coming to an abrupt stop perpendicular to the front bumper of our car, stopping the flow of traffic. I cranked the wheel to the right and slammed on the gas pedal. Our car jumped the curb, and my head whipped to the side. Sparks flew as the metal car rims grinded against the church steps. The minute we passed the car blocking the street, I jerked the steering wheel to the right, and we were back on the asphalt again.

  Pop.

  Pop. Pop. Pop!

  Gunshots shattered the back window. Little slivers of glass showered over Rever and Anna’s heads like rice at a wedding recessional.

  “Drive faster,” Rever barked, sheltering Anna’s body with his.

  I wove through the steady stream of cars, scooters, and golf carts clogging the main road circling the tiny island. “I’m going as fast as I can,” I said through clenched teeth. “Take this and aim for their tires. Don’t kill anyone,” I yelled, tossing my gun over my shoulder. “We need to get them off our tail if we want to get into that helicopter and off this island in one piece.”

  Rever shoved Anna to the floorboard of the car and fired shot after shot out the back window until the road behind us cleared. I turned the corner and slammed on the brakes. Emilio’s helicopter was waiting at the designated meeting spot. The roar of the blades drowned out the sounds of the ocean crashing against the slick, black rocks.

  “Hurry. They will be here any second,” I yelled as I flung open the door and ran to the helicopter, not waiting for Rever and Anna. He could take care of her. I’d done all I could for them.

  As soon as we made it back to the Vargas compound, I was done with all of this shit, forever. I had supported my brother. I dropped everything to be at Ignacio’s bedside, and he shoved it back in my face. I’d walked the line between two worlds and two lives for too many years to count. I couldn’t do it anymore. I had a kid on the way, and if Ignacio or Rever wanted anything else from me, then tough shit. I’d given enough. Sacrificed enough.

  My hands shook as I buckled my seatbelt. My eyes strained for any sign of Anna’s security detail. Rever ducked his head and jogged to the door with Anna in his arms.

  The minute Rever closed the door behind him, the helicopter lifted from the ground, and I took my first real breath since walking out of the hotel room this morning.

  Still sobbing, Anna buried her head in Rever’s lap. Rever stared out the window, his hand noticeably shaking as he stroked her hair.

  “We did it,” Rever said, his voice raspy.

  “We did, but the next part is going to be the hardest,” I replied, my eyes still trained on the shrinking island.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We have to wait for Juan Alvarez to retaliate.”

  “Do you think he’ll do something?”

  I snorted. “Yes.”

  “Well, that’s Ignacio’s problem. Anna and I will be gone tomorrow and so will you and Hattie. Ignacio can deal with it. Violence and revenge are his specialty.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Hattie

  Ryker didn’t come back to the hotel last night. He texted me late in the afternoon saying he wouldn’t be back until sometime this morning. He and Rever went to visit Ignacio. Ryker told me he didn’t want me to go with him, which was fine. I never wanted to step foot inside the Vargas compound again, much less see Ignacio. Ryker said he wasn’t doing well, but that didn’t soften my opinion of him.

  As I exited the hotel, I turned on my iPod. I needed to run. I needed fresh air. We’d been in Mexico for almost four days, and I hadn’t done much of anything except work on a research paper for my graduate degree. My back ached from being hunched over my laptop. Ryker warned me not to stray too far from the hotel grounds, but I hadn’t jogged in days. I didn’t plan to be gone long. Maybe thirty or forty minutes, and we were in the middle of Playa del Carmen, a tourist destination, not a cartel stronghold.

  I rounded the corner, increasing my speed. At six thirty in the morning, the streets were empty except for a few people standing at the bus stop. I liked exploring the town this way. I could see traces of the sleepy fishing village before the tourist industry crept southward from Cancun.

  With each stride, my feet pounded against the uneven sun-bleached pavement. Music screamed from my earbuds, blocking out the world. The faint tinge of ocean air tickled my nose. Sweat beaded at my temples. The humid air stuck in my lungs. Even this early in the morning, my clothes clung to my body like a second skin. I’d never get used to this weather.

  I vaulted on and off the narrow sidewalk, avoiding signs, trashcans, and planters. My legs burned, but I pushed harder, hammering away at the cobwebs in my brain from too many sleepless nights and too much anxiety.

  My phone repeatedly vibrated against my leg in the zipped pocket of my running shorts
. Ryker was probably trying to reach me. He could wait. I’d decided to fly home today or tomorrow, regardless of whether his plans had changed. I wanted to go home. I hadn’t seen Ryker much during the entire trip. He didn’t need me here. I didn’t belong here. As much as he denied it, this was his world.

  I paused at the intersection as a white sedan turned the corner and came to an abrupt halt. A convoy of three trucks whipped around the corner, slamming on their brakes, effectively boxing me in.

  A chill ghosted down my spine, and my skin prickled beneath the sheen of sweat. My heart squeezed painfully. I ripped my earbuds from my ears and draped the wire around the back of my neck. Panicked, I glanced over my shoulder for an escape route that didn’t include walking by the cars. Just then, the passenger car doors opened. Men dressed in black exited the cars with assault weapons slung over their shoulders.

  A scream bubbled up in my chest, but when I opened my mouth it resembled a whimper. Frozen with fear, I bit down on the inside of my cheek until the metallic taste of blood coated my mouth. My stomach flipped like an over-easy egg. Hundreds of thoughts raced through my mind, colliding like bumper cars as they vied for my attention.

  I willed my legs to move, but dread cemented them to the ground.

  “Rapido. Rapido,” one man bellowed, waving his gun back and forth like a macabre music conductor.

  Fuck. They were here for me. Blood drained from my face, and I swayed. Trembling, my iPod slipped from my boneless fingertips, cartwheeling down the sidewalk into the street. Strangely detached from reality, I watched it tumble around and around until it skidded to a stop.

  Then, something clicked in my brain, and I ran. I ran like my life depended on it, and it probably did.

  “Help me. Somebody help me,” I screamed, not even pausing to glance over my shoulder. I vaulted over a collapsible sidewalk sign advertising breakfast. The toe of my sneaker caught the wooden edge, and it tipped over, sliding across the pavement.