I don’t want to bother anyone, so I slip quietly into a pew at the back of the church and wait.
Forcing myself to breathe, I finally resort to actual prayer. I close my eyes and clench my fingers together on my lap, pleading with any higher power who will listen to keep Leo and Maddox alive until Papá can send someone. When my heart rate finally calms, I regain enough presence of mind to find a restroom, where I get dressed and try to put myself together so I’m not flaunting my night out in front of Papá’s fixer. I’ll have to explain my absence to Papá at some point, but God willing not until my men are safe again.
I’m just exiting the restroom when a voice bleats from inside my coat pocket and I fish my phone out and hold it to my ear. “Papá?”
It’s Amon’s brusque Slavic voice that answers. “Celeste. I am outside. Hurry.”
I head straight for the exit and spot the black luxury sedan on the corner. The passenger door opens just before I reach it, and Amon’s pale face peeks out. I slide in and he’s already driving as I shut the door and engage my seat belt.
“Where are you going?” I ask in alarm as he heads away from downtown.
“I must take you home.”
“No! We have to go back. We need to call in help! They might still be there.” I fish my phone back out of my pocket and put it to my ear. “Papá, tell him we have to go back!”
“It’s too late, Celeste. I sent men over after calling Amon. They were already gone. They found an abandoned van at the end of the alley and signs of a struggle there too.”
Maddox’s brother was driving the van. He was probably the one Gustavo wanted, and he took Leo and Maddox for leverage. Nausea grips me and I close my eyes, shaking my head to fend off the helpless sensation. I refuse to accept that there’s nothing we can do. “Where would Gustavo take them? We have to find them!”
“Mija, I’m sorry. My options are limited from the road. I can do more when I get home, but it will be a couple hours.”
“You don’t understand. Maddox’s brother was there. He’s the man who took Amador’s money and his guns the night Leo was shot. Gustavo will kill him if we don’t intervene. You know how he works! And after he’s done he might—” My voice breaks and I take a deep breath, but tears spring to my eyes when I speak again, my voice quavering. “He might kill Leo and Maddox too if he hasn’t already. There’s no time, Papá.”
“Gustavo enjoys inflicting pain. That was why he was useful to me. He will keep them alive until they are of no more use to him.”
“Oh God. Please don’t tell me that!” Gustavo’s lack of empathy was not lost on me, but I had no idea he was that much of a sadist. “Both of those men would die for me. Please don’t let that happen!”
He doesn’t answer and I worry the call has been dropped, but then he finally speaks in a measured tone. “What were you doing last night with them?”
I’m so frustrated I could scream. “That is none of your goddamn business! The only thing that matters is that I love them both. I’ve loved Maddox all these years, despite what you did when we were kids. Leo means everything to me, and I started to believe you saw him as a son. If you have any compassion for them or love for me, you have to help now. Not when you get home—now.”
He curses and I sense a lecture but he rethinks it and just says, “This is a discussion for another time. My hands are tied right now. I don’t carry certain contacts with me when I travel because I don’t want to take the risk of associations being discovered if something were to happen to me. The information for the people who can help quickest is at home under lock and key. I have the key.”
“There must be a spare. Or another way for me to access it.”
“Celeste . . .” His reluctance to give even a little finally shatters my patience and I throw one last bomb at him.
“Marcella’s two oldest sons might die today if you don’t do something. You might think I need to learn a lesson about giving in too easily to love, but what about her? This would destroy her, and it would be your fault.”
He replies with a frustrated groan, but that taunt finally gets through to him. “Ay Dios, you have your mother’s fire. Are you prepared to take this step, Celeste? You always appreciated the excuse to avoid this part of the business, but if you contact these people, there is no turning back.”
“I’m ready. Give me access to your contacts. The ones who can do something.” I don’t have to elaborate because he knows what I mean. Despite my elevated role in our family’s business, he still maintains sole access to the stable of mercenaries and thugs who do his dirty work. Right now, I’m more than willing to get my hands dirty.
“My contact list is on a flash drive in the top drawer of my desk. The key to the drawer is with me, but there is a spare in the safe behind your mother’s portrait. The code is zero-three-one-five.”
“Thank you,” I say, suppressing an unexpected smile over the fact that Maddox and Papá both chose my birthday for their locks. I may have to
